A 44-year-old man who allegedly murdered his wife and later attempted to commit suicide at Amedi near Krabo Coaltar in the Eastern Region is in the grips of the law.

The suspect, Samuel Ofori, who appeared before the Nsawam Magistrate Court, has been remanded into prison custody to re-appear on January 18.

The police told the Ghanaian Times in Accra yesterday that, Ofori, a mechanic, and his wife, Janet Awukubea (deceased), 21, have been married year a ago.

According to the District Police Commander of Krabo Coaltar, Superintendent Charles Ahiamale, the suspect told the police that he went to a fetish priestess at Swedru, in the Central Region two years ago, to acquire spiritual powers for protection.

The fetish priestess, the police said, gave Ofori two rings and instructed him not to live with any woman, including his wife whom the suspect subsequently drove her out of the house.

The police said the suspect revealed that on December 26, 2018, he returned home from town and saw his wife wearing one of the rings, which angered him, and in the process of forcibly removing it from her finger, assaulted her.

Ofori told the police on January 2, he invited Janet to his house for them to resolve their differences, and it was whilst escorting his wife back to her parent’s house that she collapsed and died.

The suspect, according to the police, thereafter, carried his dead wife to a footpath, and rushed to inform his parents about the tragedy.

Ofori later allegedly drank weedicide in an attempt to commit suicide, but was rescued by residents, and was rushed to the Nsawam Government Hospital where he was treated and discharged.

Superintendent Ahiamale said when his command was informed about the incident, he quickly sent police officers to the scene to begin investigation, adding that the body of the deceased with bruises at the back of her body, had since been sent to the Nsawam Government Hospital waiting for transfer to the Police Hospital for autopsy.